Hellebore "Digitally altered photograph"

Around here, Hellebore or Christmas Rose (not a rose!) is one of the earliest spring flowers.   e had a kind of Spring-like day today.

This is from another year, the flower that is.  I just made the painting on artrage--it is a digitally altered photograph--I took the photograph and altered it on artrage.

Hellebore, by Mary Stebbins Taitt
digitally altered photograph
altered in Artrage

This was an experiment and is NOT the way I normally work.  However, I consider this an "art" piece for the following reasons:

• I took the photo, an artistic composition decision
• I altered the photo with additional choices about lighting and so on in Photoshop raw
• I "painted" the photo in artrage
• I further manipulated it in Photoshops again after the fact.

Photography purists don't like manipulated photos and art purists don't like manipulated photos.  Perhaps there should be a category for them, because I think this is a piece of art.

Here is the original unmanipulated raw photograph.  I have friends who always like the original photos better than any "art" I make from them and that is their prerogative.  Yes, I recentered the art piece.  If You click on either of them, you can view them side by side.  I don't normally do this remember--it was an experiment, one of a number of such, for fun.  I feel as if I am sounding defensive, and I am feeling that way because so many people attack this kind of work.  In my opinion, they do not appreciate the kinds of artistic decisions that go into it.  You can choose to like or dislike it--what matters most to me is that I LIKE IT and I enjoyed doing it.

I am also not sure this is done.  It needs more work. Whether or not I will choose to do that remains to be seen.